From Brooks to Cady, 1904 to 2024, meet all of the amazing UGA alumni who won Rhodes Scholarships.
1904 – Robert P. Brooks AB 1904 was a noted historian and the first editor of what is now Georgia Magazine.
1908 – Henry L.J. Williams AB 1908 was president of the Phi Kappa literary society, associate editor of the literary magazine, The Georgian, and a member of the drill team.
1911 – E. Warren Moise AB 1911 was a debate team member, editor of The Red & Black, and chairman of the student advisory council.
1916 – George S. Whitehead’s BA 1915, MA 1916 Oxford studies were briefly interrupted by World War I. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army, saw action on the Western Front, and returned to Oxford to complete his degree at war’s end.
1919 – F.W. Harrold AB 1920 was a skilled debater, and he received the Junior Orator’s Medal. He also served as associate editor of Pandora, the university yearbook. After studying in Oxford, Harrold returned to Atlanta and joined the law firm Candler, Thompson and Hirsh.
1922 – E. Way Highsmith BS 1921 earned several debate awards and was on the UGA football team in 1919 and 1920. An entry in the 1921 edition of Pandora reads, “He is known and liked by everyone, as a scholar, an orator, a soldier, an athlete, a true gentleman, E. Way Highsmith.”
1924 – H.M. Cleckley BS 1924 served as editor-in-chief of Pandora, served as captain of the track team, and played varsity football.
1927 – Allen Post AB ’27 served as president of several organizations, including Phi Kappa, Thalians, and the International Relations Club. He studied law at Oxford and practiced in Atlanta for many years.
1928 – Thomas J. Hamilton Jr. AB ’28 served as managing editor of The Red & Black. He was also editor-in-chief of Pandora, president of the Quill Club, and secretary of the Blue Key Honor Society.
1931 – Milton P. Jarnagin III AB ’29 was the son of Milton P. Jarnagin II, an accomplished public relations practitioner and animal science educator. Jarnagin was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and Captain of the Cavalry Regimental Headquarters.
1934 – E.T. Booth Jr. BS ’32, MS ’34 was a nuclear physicist known for making the first demonstration of nuclear fission in the United States. He studied physics at UGA before getting his doctorate at Oxford. In 1941, he was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
1938 – Benson E.L. Timmons III AB ’37 was vice president of the Phi Kappa Literary Society and served on the Pandora staff.
1939 – Morris B. Abram III AB ’38, a lawyer and civil rights activist, went on to serve as president of Brandeis University for two years. His most well-known case lasted 14 years, when he successfully argued to end a Georgia electoral rule that skewed primary election results. He also worked as a representative to the European Office of the United Nations.
1948 – Homer Kittrell Nicholson Jr. AB ’42 received his bachelor’s degree from UGA and doctoral degree from Vanderbilt University. He served as a professor of humanities at Morris College in Sumter, South Carolina.
1960 – Bob Edge AB ’60 practiced law for decades in Atlanta. He has instrumental in supporting the arts in the state and at UGA and was the driving force behind the construction of the Performing and Visual Aerts Complex.
1973 – Fred F. Manget AB ’73 returned from Oxford and attended law school at Vanderbilt University before joining the Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He also had a 26-year career in the Central Intelligence Agency before retiring to High Point, North Carolina.
1996 – Robert M. Sutherland BS ’96, MS ’96 studied biology at UGA and earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the same time. He also studied cello at UGA and continued to perform during his time in Oxford. After earning his doctorate at Oxford, he shifted gears. Today, he lives in Athens and teaches pottery and music out of Good Dirt Clay Studio.
1998 – Scott Hershovitz AB ’98, MA ’98 studied philosophy at Oxford and is now a professor of law and philosophy at the University of Michigan.
1999 – Beth Shapiro BS ’99, MS ’99 is an evolutionary biologist and chief science officer at Colossal Biosciences, where she advances the company’s mission to bring back extinct species that can survive in our current world.
2003 – Adam S. Cureton AB ’03, MA ’03 is a professor of philosophy at the University of Tennessee. He completed his graduate work at Oxford and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research is focused on ethics, Kant, and the philosophy of disability, including fundamental questions about well-being, justice, and identity.
2008 – Dr. Deep Shah BS ’08, AB ’08 is a primary care physician in Gwinnett County and was recently appointed to the University System of Georgia Board of Regents.
2008 – Katherine HA Vyborny AB ’05, AB ’05 worked for three years in Washington, D.C., before applying for the Rhodes Scholarship. She earned her master’s and doctoral degrees from Oxford, then took on a role as a research associate in the Duke University Department of Economics. She now works as an economist at the World Bank.
2011 – Tracy Yang AB ’11 is a pediatric hospital medicine fellow at Boston Children’s Hospital.
2013 – Elizabeth Allan AB ’12, AB ’12, MIP ’12 earned bachelor’s degrees in Arabic, economics, and international affairs as well as a master’s degree in international policy from UGA. She was a member of the university’s student-run think tank, the Roosevelt Institute, and a Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO) scholar. After graduating from Yale Law School, she now works as an associate at King & Spalding in Atlanta.
2017 – Laura Courchesne AB ’17, AB ’17 researched illicit economics, militant groups, and military transformation during her time at Oxford. She currently works as head of strategy and operations at Frontier Model Forum, which aims to advance the AI ecosystem.
2021 – Phaidra Buchanan BSEd ’21 was the university’s first Black Rhodes Scholar. Upon winning the Rhodes, she aspired to generate policy that promotes equitable funding and culturally responsible curricula in schools. She currently teaches AP Human Geography and World History at Paul Duke STEM High School in Gwinnett County.
2023 – Natalie Navarrete AB’23, AB’ 23, AB’23 took part in UGA’s Russian Flagship Program, studies abroad in Kazakhstan, and is focusing her current Oxford studies on the former Soviet space.
2024 – Mariah Cady AB ’23, AB ’23 begins her Oxford studies this fall and will pursue two master’s degrees with the goal of deepening her language studies and critically reflecting on ways that governments can enhance refugee resettlement policies.
